Asterisk indicates a film of exceptional interest. All times are EDT.
A&E=Arts & Entertainment, AMC=American Movie Classics, FXM=Fox Movie Channel, HBOF=HBO Family, HBOP=HBO Plus, HBOS=HBO Signature, IFC=Independent Film Channel, TCM=Turner Classic Movies, TMC=The Movie Channel, TNT=Turner Network Television
Saturday, February 6
*10:00 a.m. (FXM)-- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)--A visitor from another galaxy visits our planet to issue a stern warning. Robert Wise's film is a liberal plea for peace and understanding; as such, it defied the McCarthyite xenophobia and bellicosity dominating Hollywood at the time. It stands up surprising well almost 50 years later. Starring Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie. (MJ)
*12:00 p.m. (AMC)-- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)--John Ford's version of the John Steinbeck classic novel, about the Joad family, driven from their home in the 1930s "Dust Bowl." Henry Fonda plays Tom Joad. With Jane Darwell, John Carradine. (DW)
*12:30 p.m. (IFC)-- Amarcord (1974)--Fellini's semi-autobiographical work about a small town in Italy under Mussolini. An extraordinary film. (DW)
1:00 p.m. (Showtime)-- Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)--The pioneer automaker (played by Jeff Bridges) and his company are destroyed by the giants of the auto industry. Director Francis Coppola obviously meant this as a parable about the independent artist versus the film industry, with Tucker standing in for Coppola. The whole thing seems oversimplified. Good performance by Martin Landau. (MJ)
1:00 p.m. (Sundance)-- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)--Bizarre crime thriller about horrific revenge exacted by mob boss (played with extreme creepiness by Christopher Walken in a motorized wheelchair) upon local hoods. With Andy Garcia and Steve Buscemi. Directed by Gary Fleder. (MJ)
2:15 p.m. (TNT)-- Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)--Sissy Spacek, who did her own singing, is excellent in this slightly sanitized biography of country singer Loretta Lynn, born in poverty in Kentucky. Tommy Lee Jones as her husband, Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline and Levon Helm as her coal miner father also stand out. Directed by Michael Apted. (DW)
3:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Gypsy (1962)--Unfortunate film adaptation of the great Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical. Rosalind Russell does not have the necessary fire in her belly for the role of Mama Rose. Worth seeing for the music, but look for the recent, far better, made-for-TV version with Bette Midler. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Also starring Natalie Wood and Karl Malden. (MJ)
6:00 p.m. (AMC)-- Sodom and Gomorrah (1963)--Robert Aldrich directed this above-average Biblical epic. Starring Stewart Granger and Pier Angeli. (MJ)
*12:00 a.m. (FXM)-- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)--See 10:00 a.m.
12:00 a.m. (AMC)-- Sodom and Gomorrah (1963)--See 6:00 p.m.
12:30 a.m. (Sundance)-- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)--See 1:00 p.m.
Sunday, February 7
6:00 a.m. (TCM)-- Broadway Melody of 1936 (1936)--Eleanor Powell's astonishing and slightly intimidating tap-dancing highlights this revue. Insofar as there is a story, it concerns gossip columnist Jack Benny's efforts to frame producer Robert Taylor. Directed by Roy Del Ruth. (DW)
6:30 a.m. (AMC)-- A Foreign Affair (1948)--Billy Wilder directed this story of postwar Germany, with Jean Arthur, an American provincial, sent to investigate conditions in Berlin, but falling in love. With Marlene Dietrich in fine form. (DW)
8:00 a.m. (TCM)-- Broadway Melody of 1938 (1938)--Eleanor Powell tap dances her way to immortality and Judy Garland sings show-stopping "Dear Mr. Gable" in this star-studded film. With Robert Taylor, Buddy Ebsen, Sophie Tucker, Robert Benchley, et al. (DW)
8:00 a.m. (TBS)-- The Longest Yard (1974)--A prison comedy-drama, with Burt Reynolds, as a former football player, who directs a team against warden Eddie Albert's squad. Directed by Robert Aldrich. (DW)
9:30 a.m. (AMC)-- The Glenn Miller Story (1954)--By no standard a great film--it is burdened with a sentimental and largely fictitious story, as well as insipid June Allyson as Miller's wife--but everything by Anthony Mann of this period is worth seeing. Beautifully done. James Stewart is fine as Miller. (DW)
10:35 a.m. (TBS)-- Thelma & Louise (1991)--Ridley Scott directed this film about two women who inadvertently become fugitives from the law and take off across America in their convertible. The script tries too hard to combine the road movie genre with its feminism and fails to convince, but Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are memorable as the pair. (DW)
*12:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Dr. Strangelove (1963)--Classic satire on nuclear annihilation. Though heavy-handed in parts, it still retains its incisive humor and impact. Peter Sellers is incredible playing several parts, including the President of the United States. Memorable line: "You can't fight in here--it's the War Room!" Directed by Stanley Kubrick. (MJ)
*1:00 p.m. (A&E)-- Night Moves (1975)--Superior mystery in which a good deal is happening under the surface, and things are not what seem. Gene Hackman plays a weary private eye searching for an actress's spoiled missing daughter. Directed by Arthur Penn. (MJ)
1:30 p.m. (AMC)-- Jane Eyre (1944)--Robert Stevenson directed this version of the Charlotte Bronte classic about a poor governess thrown into a mysterious household. Joan Fontaine is Jane and Orson Welles an unforgettable Rochester. (DW)
2:15 p.m. (Cinemax)-- The Fifth Element (1997)--Vacuous, silly science fiction film in which the future of the universe hinges on a Brooklyn cabdriver (played in proletarian style by Bruce Willis) finding something called "the fifth element." Worth seeing only for its imaginative settings and special effects. Typical scenery-chewing villainy by Gary Oldman. Directed by Luc Besson. (MJ)
*3:40 p.m. (Encore)-- The Conversation (1974)--A security specialist involved in bugging and other surveillance begins to have qualms about his profession. Francis Copolla's detailed, disturbing look at the milieu and practices of the security business is one of his best films. Starring Gene Hackman and the late John Cazale. (MJ)
6:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Father of the Bride (1950)--Spencer Tracy is the father and Elizabeth Taylor the bride in Vincente Minnelli's look at the American marriage ritual. Amusing, and sometimes pointed. With Joan Bennett. (DW)
8:00 p.m. (IFC)-- A Midnight Clear (1992)--Strong anti-war film about a squad of US soldiers in France near the end of World War II. Ethan Hawke, Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Gary Sinise starred. Directed by Keith Gordon, from William Wharton's novel. (DW)
8:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Monkey Business (1952)--Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers in Howard Hawks's comedy about a chemistry professor who comes up with a youth serum. Marilyn Monroe and Charles Coburn costar. (DW)
*10:30 p.m. (HBOS)-- Sunset Boulevard (1950)--Billy Wilder's classic about illusions hanging on, and the old Hollywood versus the new. A once-glamorous star of the silent screen living in a gothic Hollywood mansion takes a younger, cynical screenwriter as a lover. One of the great films. With Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Eric von Stroheim and Buster Keaton. (MJ)
11:00 p.m. (TNT)-- Tootsie (1982)--Dustin Hoffman is amusing as an actor who can't find work as a man, but finds great success as the female star of a television soap opera. Sidney Pollack directed; with Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman. (DW)
12:40 a.m. (TBS)-- American Gigolo (1980)--Paul Schrader wrote and directed this flawed but fascinating study of an upscale male prostitute. Starring Richard Gere. (MJ)
1:45 a.m. (HBO)-- Breakdown (1997)--Suspenseful thriller in which the wife of a meek computer programmer (played by Kurt Russell) disappears during a cross-country trip. One of the last performances by the late, great character actor J.T. Walsh. (MJ)
2:00 a.m. (IFC)-- A Midnight Clear (1992)--see 8:00 p.m.
2:35 a.m. (HBOS)-- Marathon Man (1976)--Exciting, convoluted spy thriller about stolen jewels, Nazis hiding out in the US, and the CIA. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Roy Scheider. Laurence Olivier is particularly effective as a sadistic Mengele-type dentist. Directed by John Schlesinger. (MJ)
*4:15 a.m. (HBO)-- Chinatown (1974)--The best example of modern film noir. A convoluted tale of incest, corruption, and the fight over access to southern California water. Jack Nicholson plays the private detective. With Faye Dunaway, John Huston. Directed by Roman Polanski. (MJ)
Monday, February 8
6:00 a.m. (TCM)-- The Philadelphia Story (1940)--George Cukor directed this film adaptation of Philip Barry's stage play about a spoiled mainline socialite yearning for--well, what exactly? One critic calls it "simply the breaking, reining, and saddling of an unruly thoroughbred," i.e., Katharine Hepburn. (DW)
*6:30 a.m. (HBOS)-- North by Northwest (1959)--One of Alfred Hitchcock's wondrous late 1950s color pieces, with Cary Grant as an ad executive turned into a wanted and hunted man. (DW)
*6:55 a.m. (Encore)-- The Conversation (1974)--See Sunday at 3:40 p.m.
*8:00 a.m. (Showtime)-- Hamlet (1996)--Kenneth Branagh starred in and directed this long, unabridged film of Shakespeare's play. It is exciting and lucid, and it dispenses with the Oedipal nonsense of other recent versions. Branagh is strong in the part, and Derek Jacobi is the definitive Claudius. Also starring Julie Christie and Kate Winslet. (MJ)
11:15 a.m. (AMC)-- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)--Elia Kazan's version of the Tennessee Williams drama about the strong and the weak in a New Orleans tenement. Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. Brando is remarkably restrained for the most part. (DW)
*3:00 p.m. (HBO)-- Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)--James Ivory directed this touching film that follows a reserved Kansas City couple through several decades, revealing much of what really goes on under the surface of their long, seemingly placid relationship. Starring real-life husband and wife Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in quiet, sensitive performances. Adapted--with inevitable changes and abridgements--from the brilliant but unfilmable pair of novels by Evan S. Connell, Jr. (MJ)
*8:00 p.m. (HBO)-- The Ice Storm (1997)--Excellent film by Ang Lee of aimlessness and disillusionment in the 1970s. As the middle class disintegrates in suburbia, we see the disintegration of the White House playing out in the background as the Watergate crisis runs its course. The fine cast includes Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Jamey Sheridan and Christina Ricci. (MJ)
8:30 p.m. (IFC)-- Mississippi Masala (1992)--Mira Nair's story of cross-cultural romance between Denzel Washington and Indian-born Sarita Choudhury, set in Greenwood, Mississippi. (DW)
10:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Hallelujah! (1929)--"A classic" of King Vidor's "humanistic museum period," according to one critic. Story of cotton picker who finds religion. (DW)
2:30 a.m. (IFC)-- Mississippi Masala (1992)--See 8:30 p.m.
4:00 a.m. (Showtime)-- Arizona Dream (1993)--Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica (Underground) directed this self-consciously offbeat film about a drifter (Johnny Depp), his car salesman uncle (Jerry Lewis), and an oddball mother and daughter (Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor). (DW)
*4:30 a.m. (IFC)-- Rashomon (1950)--Well-known work by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa. In medieval Japan, four people give differing accounts of violent attack by a bandit on a nobleman. With Toshiro Mifune. (DW)
Tuesday, February 9
6:00 a.m. (IFC)-- Riff Raff (1991)--A Ken Loach film. The trials and tribulations of building workers in London, with Robert Carlyle (of Full Monty). Some moving moments and performances. (DW)
6:00 a.m. (Showtime)-- Spellbound (1945)--Psychiatrist Ingrid Bergman attempts to unravel patient Gregory Peck's dilemmas. Has he committed a murder? Alfred Hitchcock directed. (DW)
6:00 a.m. (TCM)-- Gaslight (1944)--Charles Boyer tries to drive Ingrid Bergman mad in George Cukor's period thriller. (DW)
*7:40 a.m. (IFC)-- Olympia (1936) (Parts 1 and 2)--Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, under official commission from Hitler and Goebbels, made this massive documentary about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Despite its obscene origins and its flattering shots of Hitler, the film remains a brilliant paean to the human body. (MJ)
*9:30 a.m. (HBOS)-- Barry Lyndon (1975)--An intelligent adaptation of William Thackeray's novel about an eighteenth-century scoundrel, directed by Stanley Kubrick. (DW)
*12:00 p.m. (Sundance)-- The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)--Woody Allen combines Keaton's Sherlock Jr. and Fellini's The White Sheik to come up with a satisfying tale about a drab housewife (Mia Farrow) romanced by a character (Jeff Daniels) who literally steps out of the movie screen. (MJ)
*12:15 p.m. (AMC)-- Band of Angels (1957)--A remarkably complex look at black-and-white relations in Civil War America. Clark Gable plays a Southern gentleman with a past as a slave trader, Yvonne DeCarlo is a Southern belle who discovers she has black ancestors and Sidney Poitier is an educated slave. Directed by Raoul Walsh, from the novel by Robert Penn Warren. (DW)
*12:45 p.m. (HBOS)-- A Place in the Sun (1951)--A George Stevens film based on Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. Not very faithful to the book, but valuable in its own right. Elizabeth Taylor is extraordinary as Montgomery Clift's dream girl. (DW)
*1:00 p.m. (IFC)-- Rashomon (1950)--See Monday at 4:30 a.m.
4:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Kiss Me Kate (1953)--Vulgar, brassy production of Cole Porter musical, with Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Directed by George Sidney. (DW)
*4:00 p.m. (FXM)-- The Gang's All Here (1943)--Delightful Busby Berkeley film, with the usual lush and intricate musical sequences, but this time in rich Technicolor. Watch for the not-so-subliminal chorus line of bananas in Carmen Miranda's "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" number. (MJ)
*6:00 p.m. (AMC)-- Sergeant Rutledge (1960)--Woody Strode plays a black US cavalry officer charged with rape and murder in post-Civil War America. John Ford directed. With Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers. (DW)
*7:30 p.m. (Sundance)-- The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)--See 12:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m. (Cinemax)-- John Grisham's the Rainmaker (1997)--Francis Coppola took a John Grisham potboiler and made it into an engrossing but pedestrian film. Nonetheless, it is rich in characters, with particularly good work by Danny DeVito and Mickey Rourke (in a surprising stand-out performance as an ultra-sleazy lawyer) Also starring Matt Damon, John Voight, and Claire Danes. (MJ)
11:00 p.m. (AMC)-- Home of the Brave (1949)--Mark Robson directed this well-meaning film about black GI suffering abuse from fellow US soldiers in the Pacific during World War II. One of the first to deal with racial discrimination. (DW)
*11:25 p.m. (Starz)-- Deconstructing Harry (1997)--Woody Allen's film is mean-spirited, misanthropic, bitter, cynical, crude, and foul-mouthed, but it is deliberately provocative, often funny, and one of his best films of recent years. A writer (Allen) confronts the friends and family members that he has cruelly featured in his novels, as well as their fictional representations. Also, Allen and his character confront their horror at growing old. Compare this film with the one preceding it, the light-hearted romantic musical Everyone Says I Love You (1996), which this film seems to rebut. (MJ)
*11:30 p.m. (TCM)-- Reds (1981)--Warren Beatty's account of the life and times of John Reed, American socialist and author of Ten Days that Shook the World, the authoritative chronicle of the October Revolution of 1917. With Diane Keaton and others. (DW)
1:00 a.m. (IFC)-- Riff Raff (1991)--See 6:00 a.m.
*1:15 a.m. (AMC)-- Sergeant Rutledge (1960)--See 6:00 p.m.
4:15 a.m. (AMC)-- Home of the Brave (1949)--See 11:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 10
*6:00 a.m. (FXM)-- The Gang's All Here (1943)--See Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. (AMC)-- Breaking Away (1979)--Intelligent story of group of "townies" in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. Directed by Peter Yates. (DW)
*9:00 p.m. (Bravo)-- Blue Collar (1978)--Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Taxi Driver, among other films) wrote and directed this work about corruption in an auto union in Detroit. Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel co-starred. (DW)
*9:30 p.m. (Showtime)-- Bound (1996)--A fine first film by brothers Andy and Larry Machowski. Cinematically, it's a bit of a show-off, but it all works, re-mining familiar film noir elements. A mob money launderer's mistress and her ex-con lesbian lover conspire to run off with the mobster's loot. Played broadly, and often with humor, by Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano. (MJ)
*10:15 p.m. (IFC)-- Amarcord (1974)--See Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
10:30 p.m. (TCM)-- Air Force (1943)--An early American World War II film, about the inner workings of a bomber crew. Typical Howard Hawks concern with a group of professionals at work. With Arthur Kennedy, John Garfield, George Tobias, Harry Carey. (DW)
*1:00 a.m. (Bravo)-- Blue Collar (1978)--See 9:00 p.m.
1:00 a.m. (TCM)-- High Noon (1952)--Gary Cooper stars in this Fred Zinnemann-directed Western about a sheriff who, on his wedding and retirement day, has to confront a gunman seeking revenge. With Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, et al. (DW)
*3:50 a.m. (IFC)-- Amarcord (1974)--See Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
4:00 a.m. (A&E)-- D.O.A. (1950)--Rudolph Maté directed this film noir about a man (Edmond O'Brien) who discovers he has been poisoned and attempts to find out why and who has done it in the time he has left. With Pamela Britton, Luther Adler. (DW)
*4:00 a.m. (AMC)-- Sergeant Rutledge (1960)--See Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 11
6:00 a.m. (TCM)-- Julius Caesar (1953)--Joseph L. Mankiewicz's intelligently filmed version of Shakespeare's tragedy. James Mason as Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius, Louis Calhern as Caesar and Marlon Brando as Antony. (DW)
6:30 a.m. (AMC)-- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)--Film adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel about German youths' experiences as soldiers in World War I. Some memorable sequences, although the overall effect is not as strong as one would like. Directed by Lewis Milestone, with Lew Ayres. (DW)
7:15 a.m. (Showtime)-- Rebecca (1940)--Alfred Hitchcock's first US-made film, with Joan Fontaine as the second wife of nobleman Laurence Olivier. The first wife's presence hovers over the place. Judith Anderson is memorable as the sinister housekeeper, loyal to the first wife. (DW)
*8:30 a.m. (TCM)-- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)--Famed German theater director Max Reinhardt oversaw this oddity, with James Cagney as Bottom and Mickey Rooney as Puck in Shakespeare's magical play. (DW)
9:30 a.m. (Sundance)-- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)--See Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m. (TCM)-- Romeo and Juliet (1936)--Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard were a good deal too old for their starring roles, but they perform admirably, in George Cukor's version of the tragedy. (DW)
*12:30 p.m. (Bravo)-- Blue Collar (1978)--See Wednesday at 9:00 p.m.
*4:00 p.m. (TCM)-- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)--John Garfield and Lana Turner play the illicit and doomed lovers in the film based on James M. Cain's novel. They kill her husband, the owner of a roadside diner, and suffer the consequences of nearly getting away with it. Tay Garnett directed. (DW)
*5:30 p.m. (HBOS)-- Sunset Boulevard (1950)--See Sunday at 10:30 p.m.
5:45 p.m. (Cinemax)-- The Fifth Element (1997)--See Sunday at 2:15 p.m.
7:00 p.m. (Sundance)-- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)--See Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
8:00 p.m. (AMC)-- Julia (1977)--Vanessa Redgrave won an Oscar for her performance as the anti-fascist Julia based on Lillian Hellman's autobiographical work, Pentimento. With Jane Fonda, Jason Robards; directed by Fred Zinnemann. (DW)
*10:00 p.m. (HBOS)-- North by Northwest (1959--See Monday at 6:30 a.m.
10:05 p.m. (TBS)-- A Fistful of Dollars (1964)--In the first of Sergio Leone's Italian Westerns Clint Eastwood, in the role that made him a star, plays the Man With No Name. The story, a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, involves warring families in a border town. Ennio Morricone's score is striking. With Gian Maria Volonte and Marianne Koch. (DW)
2:00 a.m. (AMC)-- Julia (1977)--See 8:00 p.m.
2:30 a.m. (TCM)-- Reckless (1935)--Chorus girl (Jean Harlow) marries a drunk of a millionaire and finds herself in deep water. With William Powell and Franchot Tone. Directed by Victor Fleming. Remade as Written on the Wind in 1957. (DW)
Friday, February 12
*6:00 a.m. (AMC)-- The Narrow Margin (1952)--A policeman has to transport a gangster's widow to a trial to testify. They have to avoid various attempts to kill them. With Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor, both B-movie standouts. Directed by Richard Fleischer. (DW)
8:10 a.m. (Starz)-- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)--Mike Myers plays a double role in this consistently amusing send-up of James Bond movies and the manners and styles of the 1970s. (MJ)
9:00 a.m. (Sundance)-- Touch (1987)--Interesting but disappointing film written and directed by Paul Schrader about faith healing in the South. With Christopher Walken and Bridget Fonda. (MJ)
9:15 a.m. (HBOS)-- Marathon Man (1976)--See Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
10:45 a.m. (AMC)-- Nothing Sacred (1937)--Fredric March is a cynical reporter who sets out to make headlines with the story of a Vermont girl (Carole Lombard) supposedly dying from radium poisoning. Ben Hecht wrote the script and William Wellman directed. (DW)
*12:30 p.m. (IFC)-- Brazil (1985)--Brilliant, undisciplined satire by Terry Gilliam about a future dystopia that strangely resembles the Great Depression of the 1930s and other bleak periods of the recent past. Starring Jonathan Pryce and Michael Palin. (MJ)
*1:30 p.m. (TCM)-- The Quiet Man (1952)--John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara star in this John Ford film about an Irish-American boxer who goes back to his native country. (DW)
*6:00 p.m. (AMC)-- I Was a Male War Bride (1949)--Cary Grant is a French officer marrying a WAC (Ann Sheridan) and encountering a series of dilemmas. The film is very funny, and it also provides director Howard Hawks an opportunity to examine sexual roles, and subvert them. (DW)
7:00 p.m. (Sundance)-- Touch (1987)--See 9:00 a.m.
8:00 p.m. (Starz)-- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)--See 8:10 a.m.
8:00 p.m. (TCM)-- Gypsy (1962)--See Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
9:00 p.m. (Bravo)-- Mississippi Masala (1992)--See Monday at 8:30 p.m.
12:30 a.m. (HBO)-- Breakdown (1997)--See Sunday at 1:45 a.m.
1:00 a.m. (Bravo)-- Mississippi Masala (1992)--See Monday at 8:30 p.m.
1:50 a.m. (Cinemax)-- Serial Mom (1994)--Middle-aged suburban mom (played with relish by Kathleen Turner) kills to preserve traditional American values, like rewinding before you return your tape to the video store and not wearing white shoes after Labor Day. This hilarious satire was directed by John Waters. (MJ)
2:40 a.m. (Starz)-- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)--See 8:10 a.m.
4:30 a.m. (HBOS)-- Modern Romance (1981)--Occasionally amusing film, directed by and starring Albert Brooks as a neurotic film editor obsessed with Kathryn Harrold. (DW)
Video pick of the week: Find it in your video store--The Killing Floor (1985)--A young black farmer comes up from Mississippi to work in the Chicago slaughterhouses in 1917 and becomes a leader of the meatpacking workers' union. An unflinchingly pro-union film, originally made for PBS's American Playhouse, that shows the strength of a united working class as well as the racial divisions within the class that threaten to cripple it. The film also vividly illustrates the role of the meatpacker bosses in fomenting the Chicago race riots of 1919. Powerful acting by Damien Leake, Alfre Woodard, the great Moses Gunn, and others. Directed by Bill Duke. (MJ)